Overview of the tools being leveraged by the Systems Analysis & Integration campaign for various studies.
ACCERT (Algorithm for the Capital Cost Estimation of Reactor Technologies)
ACCERT is an advanced tool designed to facilitate precise estimation of capital costs for nuclear reactor technologies. ACCERT provides a structured and systematic approach to cost estimation, empowering engineers, researchers, and professionals to make informed decisions in their projects. The core of ACCERT is the large number of algorithms that have been developed and will continue to be developed. Documentation of ACCERT can be found at accert.readthedocs.io.
A-LEAF
A-LEAF is an integrated national-scale power system simulation framework that includes a suite of capacity expansion, unit commitment, and economic dispatch models. A-LEAF can determine the least-cost generation investment and retirement plans, transmission investment plans, and hourly or sub-hourly system scheduling all under a range of user-defined input assumptions for technology characteristics, electricity demand profiles, system requirements, and electricity market designs. In addition, the Strategic Capacity Investment Model (SCIM) that is part of A-LEAF that simulates interactions between profit-seeking electricity market participants to understand how competitive market outcomes may differ from centrally planned system least-cost solutions.
Cyclus
Cyclus is an agent-based fuel cycle simulator that has been used internationally. Written in C++ and Python, Cyclus has a modular software design that makes it easy for multi-fidelity analysis for fuel cycle scenario simulations.
DYMOND (Dynamic Model of Nuclear Deployment)
DYMOND is a nuclear fuel cycle simulator developed by Argonne National Laboratory. It is designed to model and simulate the evolution of the entire nuclear fuel cycle (mining, enrichment, fuel fabrication, reactor deployment and operations, waste management, reprocessing, and disposal). It utilizes an agent-based event-driven modeling approach to make it easy to simulate a highly flexible and realistic representation of the fuel cycle. DYMOND calculates mass inventories and flows at all points in the fuel cycle and also offers options for detailed isotopic analysis through depletion, decay, and physics-based fuel loading calculations. These capabilities make it a useful tool for evaluating diverse strategies in reactor deployment, resource utilization, waste management, and non-proliferation analysis.
GCAM (Global Change Analysis Model)
The Global Change Analysis Model (GCAM) is an open-source model that represents the linkages between key human and Earth systems. GCAM divides the world into 32 energy-economy regions, 235 water basins, and 384 land sub-regions, and simulates the future evolution of, and interactions between, five interconnected systems: the economy; energy; agriculture and land; water; and emissions/climate. GCAM simulations provide information about outcomes such as fossil fuel and other resource utilization; energy technology deployment; land use and agricultural production; energy and agricultural commodity prices and trade; water supply and use; and emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollutants. The model is useful for analyzing interdependencies across sectors and systems resulting from alternate pathways of population and economic growth, energy resource and technology development, and other factors.
NE-COST (Nuclear Fuel Cycle Cost Calculator)
Under a charter authorized by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy, an Evaluation and Screening study of nuclear fuel cycle options was conducted using established sets of criteria and metrics. For the study, nuclear fuel cycle systems are defined in terms of the activities and facilities required for the use of nuclear power, from mining through disposal. The NE-COST computational tool is used to quantify the economic and financial risk performance of fuel cycles.
Nuclear Fuel Cycle Options Catalog
The Nuclear Fuel Cycle Options Catalog is an interactive website that provides information about nuclear fuel cycles, their performance, and the technologies that may be used to implement them. The fuel cycles cover a broad range of possible options, including once-through and recycle. At the present time, information contained in the catalog is primarily based on analyses performed as part of the Fuel Cycle Research and Development Program in the Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy to improve understanding of differences in performance among various fuel cycles. These analyses inform the decision-making process at the Department of Energy for planning and conducting long-term research and development. The Catalog is being actively developed at this time, and periodic addition of new fuel cycle information is planned, which is anticipated to include input from additional contributors.
Nuclear Reactor Capital Cost Reduction Tool
A report, ‘Quantifying Capital Cost Reduction Pathways for Advanced Nuclear Reactors’, has been issued. This report discusses the framework within the spreadsheet tool and provides detailed information on the methodology and assumptions behind the model.
OR-SAGE
Oak Ridge Siting Analysis for power Generation Expansion
The OR-SAGE tool is a dynamic visualization database employing both geographic information systems (GIS) data and spatial modeling techniques to examine both potential siting options for different types of electrical generation plants and the ramifications of national and regional energy expansion policy decisions. OR-SAGE assists in evaluating the feasibility of deploying new power generation capacity in terms of availability of suitable candidate areas, where power will be needed for the future, economic analyses, proximity to available and planned infrastructure (electrical grid availability, rail lines, cooling water, etc.), optimal placements of individual sites, and optimal site selection based on users’ objectives and constraints. OR-SAGE uses industry-accepted parameters for developing search criteria combined with the vast array of GIS data sources and modeling capability at ORNL to conduct these types of analyses.
SET (Fuel Cycle Screening and Evaluation Tool)
This tool was developed to support the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Evaluation and Screening Study, and is intended to be used in conjunction with the information contained in the final report.
The SET tool is an Excel-based application that contains evaluation data for the fuel cycle Evaluation Groups analyzed in the study. This represents the performance with respect to the evaluation metrics used to identify fuel cycle options that offer the potential for significant improvement, compared to the current U.S fuel cycle. The SET tool also contains the range of value judgments used in the study.
A user can:
- Repeat the evaluation and screening process used in the study that identified promising options for R&D, with either the entire set of options (Evaluation Groups) or a subset of the options.
- Explore the impact of varying the relative importance of criteria for identifying promising fuel cycles.
- Perform an evaluation and screening of specific fuel cycles. Metric data can be extracted from the final report and used in the SET tool.
This is intended to be a flexible resource for understanding how the choice of fuel cycle impacts criteria of interest.
Transmutation Library
A link to this tool will be provided as soon as it is available.
VISION (Verifiable Fuel Cycle Simulation)
The VISION Model is a comprehensive simulation of the nuclear fuel cycle from mining through disposal using a System Dynamics framework. VISION takes as input certain scenario parameters (duration, power demand growth, fuel recycling parameters, etc.) from which is computes a set of relevant outputs (long-term radiotoxicity in disposal, actinide recycling rates, etc.) that can be used to evaluate the fitness of the scenario according to the user’s metrics. The model itself does not specify any of the properties associated with any reactor type (e.g. LWR, SFR). Instead, all parameters are loaded from an input spreadsheet, and so may be generalized or specified as desired by the user. The input spreadsheet likewise contains parameters defining the fuel recipes for the reactors, the permitted separations processes, and the scenario deployment values.
Additionally, the scenario model incorporates advanced facility deployment logic to support simulations of various upset conditions and contingency plans. These include the active forecasting of used fuel supplies to support recycling reactor startup (and adjustments to the rates of deployment to ensure fuel sufficiency) the backfilling of fuel shortages with new enriched product, or the temporary shutdown of active reactors when/if fuel supplies fall short. Nuclear fuel is modeled as a vector of 88 isotopic mass fractions for both charge and discharge) with core size and refueling requirements computed based on the fuel’s specified discharge burnup, core residency time, and reactor power level. Partitioning of fuel in recycling processes is determined by user-defined matrices which permit modeling of arbitrary process, with allowances for specific waste and reuse streams. New fuel can be fabricated from combinations of fresh and recycled feedstock with sources chosen based on availability and a user-specified priority order.
A link to this tool’s website will be provided as soon as it is available.